FILM & TV:
“Sunset Story”
Arclight Cinemas
Through Aug. 28
This documentary examines the lives of two elderly women living
in Sunset Hall, a retirement home for political radicals in Los
Angeles. Directed and produced by three UCLA School of Theater,
Film, Television and Digital Media alumni, the screenings will
qualify the film for Oscar consideration. And if it doesn’t
win, the feisty residents of Sunset Hall may go on strike.
Go to www.arclightcinemas.com or www.moviefone.com for tickets
and info.
Facets of the Diamond: 75 Years of Best Picture
Winners
Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Monday nights through Dec. 8
In May of 2002, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
began its “Facets of the Diamond” program,
chronologically churning through screenings of all 75 Oscar Best
Picture winners. Each week, the Academy screens a Best Picture,
with “The Last Emperor,” the 1987 winner, making its
appearance tonight, followed by “Rain Man” and
“Driving Miss Daisy” in the coming weeks leading into
the 1990s. Get tickets online in advance, though, because they do
sell out. Unless you’re going to see “Gladiator.”
$5 general admission, $3 w/student ID. Check out www.oscars.org
for more info.
“Wings of Desire”
LACMA
Aug. 29 and 30, 7:30 pm
Two screenings commemorate the 15th anniversary of director Wim
Wenders visually stunning meditation on loneliness and desire. Set
in Berlin before the wall came tumbling down, “Wings of
Desire” seems even more relevant now as it explores issues of
identity from an “us vs. them” perspective through the
eyes of both human beings and angels here on earth.
Tickets are $8, or $6 w/student ID. Visit www.lacma.org for
details.
“Carnivà le”
HBO
Premieres Sept. 14 at 9:30 p.m.
HBO’s newest original series follows a carnival wandering
the midwest during the Dust Bowl of 1934. Nick Stahl (“In the
Bedroom,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”)
stars as a fugitive who turns out to have some sort of mystical
powers and Clancy Brown (“The Shawshank Redemption”) is
the evangelist who needs to figure them out. Besides Brown, we can
be sure HBO is also praying, as this series will take over the
coveted Sunday at 9 p.m. time slot once “Sex and the
City” ends. But if the tantalizing teasers currently airing
are any indication, “Carnivà le” should be just
what the doctor ordered.
Check local listings, or go to www.hbo.com/carnivale for more
info.
MUSIC:
Kenny Burrell and the UCLA Jazz Band
Lunaria Restaurant and Jazz Club
Aug. 25
UCLA Director of Jazz Studies Kenny Burrell worked with jazz
legends John Coltrane and Billie Holiday and was, in fact, Duke
Ellington’s favorite guitar player. If you miss your chance
to see the man who is sure to reach legendary status himself this
time, Burrell and the UCLA Jazz Band play at Lunaria every Monday
in September.
Go to the Web site www.lunariajazzscene.com/august.htm for info
and reservations.
Dave GahanThe Wiltern
Aug. 25 and 26
The voice of Depeche Mode has gone solo. After working with
multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler and producer Ken Thomas, Gahan
released his debut solo album “Paper Monsters” early
last June. The album was influenced by his experience in addiction
and recovery and leads the way for a newborn optimism.
Tickets are $45.50 and available through Ticketmaster. Call The
Wiltern at (213) 380-5005 for more information.
Mum
Henry Fonda Theater
Aug. 29
Combining digital experimentation with organic sounds and
delicate melodies, indie electronic act Mum is taking its music on
the road again for another North American tour. Expect music from
Mum’s 2002 release “Finally We Are No One” as
well as a few new tunes, and watch these Icelandic sprites frolic
on their sonic playground with none of the sepia-toned
pretentiousness of their regional neighbors Sigur Ros.
Tickets are $12.50 and available through www.ticketweb.com. All
ages.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The
Warlocks
Henry Fonda Theater
Sept. 6
L.A. based Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are on tour in promotion
of its sophomore release. “Take Them On, On Your Own”
is the follow-up to the group’s acclaimed self-titled debut
album, which showcased a noisy abandon that drew comparisons to
Velvet Underground and Jesus and the Mary Chain. Supporting the
group is another local act, the underrated and underexposed
Warlocks, whose dirty, druggy, psychedelic rock provides a fitting
opening act for the B.R.M.C.
For tickets, call Aron’s Records or Sea Level
Records.
Natalie Cole
Los Angeles Tennis Center
Sept. 13
Daughter of jazz legend Nat “King” Cole, this
R&B gone jazz-pop singer has a voice with as much magic as her
father’s. Although the song that perhaps gained her the most
acclaim was the “duet” she sang with her deceased
father using his original recording of “Unforgettable,”
Cole is sure to bring a night of tranquility and melancholic bliss
to the UCLA campus.
Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.com.
THEATER & ARTS:
Girl Culture
Skirball Cultural Center
Sept. 4 through Jan. 4
Photographer Lauren Greenfield takes an often startling look at
some of the more private moments of the lives of women in her show
in the Skirball’s Ruby Gallery. Greenfield’s work,
which can also be seen in her new book of the same name, depicts a
generation of young girls obsessed with body image and growing up
way too fast.
Admission is free. Visit www.skirball.org or call (310) 440-4500
for details.
“I Just Stopped By to See the
Man”
Geffen Playhouse
Sept. 9 through 0ct. 19
Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney will bring Stephen
Jeffreys’ “I Just Stopped By to See the Man” to
Westwood for its West Coast premiere. Set in the Mississippi Delta
in the mid-70s, the play explores race and its role in popular
music. Donovan Leitch, lead singer of British rock group Nancy Boy,
will play a British rock star seeking the truth about the man who
inspired his career. The play will also feature Tony Award nominee
Clarence Williams III and JoNell Kennedy.
Tickets are $28 and available at
www.geffenplayhouse.com.
“Varekai”
Staples Center
Premieres Sept. 12
Cirque du Soleil will be pitching its tent in the Staples Center
parking lot next month when its North American tour for
“Varekai” kicks off in Los Angeles. Cirque newcomer and
theater director Dominic Champagne directs this interpretation of
the Icarus myth. But the real star of the show may be Academy Award
winning costume designer Eiko Ishioka, who playfully brings her
flair for the macabre, evident in films like “Bram
Stoker’s Dracula,” to the Cirque stage.
Tickets range from $42 to $80. Call 1-800-678-5440 or visit
www.cirquedusoleil.com.
“Shame and Desire”
Stella Adler Theater
Through Sept. 20
Writer-director Kuros Charney brings his own blend of witty
banter, neurosis and drug-induced paranoia to Human Zoo
Theatre’s current residency on the 2nd floor of the Adler.
And just when you thought staged romantic comedies had gone the way
of the typewriter.
Tickets are $15. Call (323) 860-6572 or check out
www.humanzootheatre.com.